the thing about iTunes is they update their sales ranks constantly (hourly?) so if you get a cult rushing the gates when something first drops, that doesn't necessarily mean it'll sell enough throughout the week to do major damage on the Billboard charts. although it would be pretty cool if she does crazy numbers for an independent R&B release.

I’ve been searchingTrying to find my way backMy way back to the throneAnd I know If I couldclimb, crawl, fallBreak these wallsThen maybe I’ll get homeI’m building it upTo break it back downWe’re building it upTo burn it downWe can’t waitTo burn it to the ground

Listening again and the Riot - Gleaux - Pretty Wicked Things section is a real drag, which is weird given they're the bangers, but they've got the sort of dead-eyed detachment you expect from lesser artists/complete hacks.

hahah, there are so many landmines to tip toe when trying to sell Dawn. "no, no, I swear, it doesn't sound like Danity Kane." "Yeah, but that Dirty Money was actually really good though, for real." "Just ignore the Xena warrior princess shit."

i mean i get they're not the ~trendy~ buzzwords du jour and if she was all 80s reverb triangles self-pitying melancholy seapunk chillwave hanging out with grizzly bear you could sell her way easier but why would you want that?

I don't think Danity Kane was very good. But the bigger problem with that reference point is that Danity Kane was the quintessential manufactured band—literally pieced together on television. Dawn's solo albums, though, are defined by her autonomy.

I'm not assigning values to either approach or saying one is better than the other, but it makes the Danity Kane reference point doubly misleading

Ahem anyway going back to talking about the album - I think the fact that exactly the same vocal treatment is used on every single track goes some way towards explaining accusations of samey-ness. I'm not really that keen on the autotune that's all over this, she's evidently got a great voice and it just flattens everything out, especially the high notes and melisma when she should be sounding her most expressive. It gets kind of frustrating after an hour. I mean she used the same trick over most of Armor On so maybe I wouldn't care if the songs were better but I can't help but feel a lack of joie de vivre here.

confused as to how there somehow isn't a pop track to rally around. like, actually mystified. how is "Riot" not blatantly, completely that? does it need to cram in *more* radio trends (house beat, 4/4 handclaps, squelchy synth, vocal stutters, the MELODY FROM MOVES LIKE JAGGER EVEN)? (n.b. I really like "Riot" but ffs) "Pretty Wicked Things" has a fucking dubstep drop! I mean, sure, this probably is not going to go anywhere near radio, any format, but those are marketing factors, not anything in the music. (and I've love to be proven wrong)

oh, and I really, really like this album, a lot more than _Armor On_. which I did hear and wasn't as impressed as others. "Frequency" probably most slept on track.

Not sure if 86 is especially the most accessible - it is one of my favorites - but my only complaint about this album is that there's a lot to take in And that I could have probably done without the title track...